David Cameron appeared to foreshadow Britain coming out of recession on Thursday when he told MPs at prime minister's questions that the good news on the economy was going to keep on coming.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is due to publish the preliminary GDP figures for the third quarter on Thursday, and they are widely expected to show the economy is growing, ending the double-dip recession.

Cameron will have been on the ONS pre-distribution list, but his officials said he was not referring to the growth figures when he said good news was coming.

Labour is preparing to say a return to growth is good news, but there are underlying deep-seated problems in the British economy that need resolution. Even 1% growth would only put the economy back to the size it was a year ago, Labour will point out.

Cameron highlighted the "good news" on the economy during exchanges with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, accusing Miliband of having nothing to offer but "rubbish jokes".

Cameron pointed out inflation was down, unemployment down and crime down. Pointing to the Labour frontbench, he said: "Every bit of good news sends that team into decline, but I can tell him the good news is going to keep coming."

He added Miliband was not up to the job, prompting Miliband to claim Cameron was living in a parallel universe.

Miliband had started the exchanges by pressing Cameron to explain what he had meant a week ago when he promised to put energy consumers on the lowest possible tariff.

Cameron said he stood by his remarks and that reforms would be set out in the energy bill. He added: "There is a real problem with 400 tariffs that emerged to be completely baffling for consumer." He added: "We need to go further, we need to use the law."

Miliband replied that "the only people who were baffled last week were [Cameron's] energy ministers", who were unable to understand the prime minister's pledge. He said Cameron had offered a gilt-edged guarantee last week, but the small print had unravelled, amounting to "another dodgy offer from this prime minister". He concluded: "He does not do detail. He made up the policy and he got caught out."

Miliband tried to build up an impression of government incompetence by referring to reports that train companies had raised concerns over the handling of the west coast mainline franchise in May 2011.

He challenged Cameron to say whether any of his recent transport secretaries had been informed of the complaints of the train companies, adding that a failure to act would end up costing the government as much as £100m. He pointed out that successive Conservative transport secretaries had assured parliament the bidding process was robust.

Referring to the episode in which the chancellor, George Osborne, insisted he travel first-class to London from his constituency last week, Miliband said: "It's not the ticket that needs upgrading; it is the chancellor of the exchequer."

Cameron pointed out that he had set up an independent inquiry into the franchise process.

The two leaders then traded insults over the cost of energy bills, with Miliband claiming that Conservative research department figures showed that the average dual fuel bill fell by £110 during his period as energy secretary, while it had risen by £200 under the coalition government.

Cameron hit back, saying Miliband as energy secretary did not stand up to the vested interests, but stuffed their pockets with cash.